This invention relates generally to disposable assemblies for covering the elongated probe of a medical thermometer, and, more particularly, to assemblies of this kind that include a stretchable plastic film.
Medical thermometers of this particular kind, which include elongated probes adapted for insertion into various body cavities (e.g., the mouth, rectum or ear canal), are the most commonly used devices for measuring a patient's body temperature. Such thermometers commonly include in the probe tip a thermistor or infrared sensor to detect the temperature of the adjacent body tissue.
The use of medical thermometers of this kind to measure the body's temperatures of different patients raises a significant risk of spreading infection and disease. To reduce this risk, such thermometers are frequently used with hygienic probe covers that are disposed of after each use.
To be effective, such probe covers must have sufficient strength to withstand normal handling, including their placement on the probe, and also must be configured to interfere minimally with the sensor's (e.g., the thermistor's or infrared sensor's) temperature detection. In the case of the infrared sensor, the thickness of the portion of the probe cover located immediately in front of the sensor must be highly uniform and must be controlled to a precise tolerance.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there is a continuing need for a probe cover assembly for the probe of a medical thermometer, which protects the probe and/or the patient from contamination during its use, which provides a known minimum interference with the probe's temperature sensor, and which is durable, yet convenient to use and inexpensive to manufacture. The present invention fulfills this need.